President Trump pardons former NFL players convicted of fraud, drug charges

Trump has issued many pardons since returning to the White House, including baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, rapper NBA YoungBoy, and Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover.

Several former NFL players have been pardoned by President Donald Trump, Alice Marie Johnson, the president’s pardon czar, announced.

“Today, the President granted pardons to five former NFL players—Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, and the late great Dr. Billy Cannon,” Johnson, who was pardoned by Trump in 2018, wrote in a social media post. “As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation…Grateful to @POTUS for his continued commitment to second chances. Mercy changes lives.”

Nate Newton, a former Dallas Cowboy, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison in 2002 after pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges. Newton, 64, received the news of his pardon from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

“He said, ‘You’ve been pardoned from the President.’ I just sat there for about 30 seconds to a minute. I was stunned. But I told him, ‘You tell the President, thank you very much,'” recalled the six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro selection.

Newton said of the news, “At one point, you lose trust when people do egregious or bad things – you lose trust in them. And only time can get you that trust back. It’s been a lot of years since those things that I’ve done against society and individuals. I’ve been truly blessed. It’s a great thing.”

Jamal Lewis, 46, who played for the Cleveland Browns (2007-2009) and Baltimore Ravens (2000-2006), served four months in federal prison in 2005 after reaching a plea with prosecutors for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and using a cellphone to set up a drug deal.

Travis Henry, a former running back for the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, and Denver Broncos, was sentenced in 2009 to three years in federal prison for financing a cocaine trafficking operation. After serving two years, he was reinstated by the NFL.

President Trump has issued many pardons since returning to the White House, including baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, rapper NBA YoungBoy, and Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover.

As noted in “Trump’s Clemency Gap,” issued by U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., recipients of Trump’s more than 1,700 pardons in 2025 were 85% white, and a majority were wealthy and well-connected. What’s more, the majority of pardons issued by Trump (more than 1,500) were for convicted pro-Trump rioters involved in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building.

“A person’s wealth or connections should not determine whether they receive clemency. The nation’s prisons are mostly filled with people who come from poverty and low-income backgrounds but nonetheless still deserve equal opportunity,” reads the report. “While millions of people suffer under mass incarceration—including Black, brown, low-income, LGBTQ+, and disabled folks—the Trump Administration has an opportunity to change course and use clemency to advance justice. We’re calling on them to do just that.”